Swan Lake Avengers Break Gunman's

     14 Hour Stand-Off

     "Mr. Meirhoffer is an experienced soldier and an avid military collector. He legally owns several vintage weapons and had a few not-so-legal pieces in his house as well," recounts Lieutenant Hodges.

     According to police and local eyewitnesses, a next door neighbor, Vera Donnelson, complained that morning to Meirhoffer that his extensive Christmas lighting display kept her awake at night. When Meirhoffer reacted by shouting insults at her, she contacted Elmira Evans, 31, a social worker with the Zoar Senior Citizen Support Center. When Evans came to speak with him about the disagreement with his neighbor, Meirhoffer allegedly threatened her with a shotgun. She then phoned Zoar Police.

     When police arrived on the scene, Meirhoffer fired his shotgun into the air. When more police arrived and ordered him to come out of the house, he fired on them with a .30 machinegun.

     "The weapon was one of those big tripod mounted things from World War II," says Lt. Hodges. "Officers returned fire only to protect themselves and requested back up."

     Neighborhood resident, Cole Thorton, himself a veteran of the Korean Conflict, witnessed the firefight between Meirhoffer and the Zoar police.

     "When I heard that .30 cal go off, I hit the floor just like I was back at Inchon. Then I looked out the window down the street and saw all the police cars outside Derrick's place. So I grabbed my binoculars to see what was going on. Derrick packs his place with Christmas junk; I mean plastic Santa, elves, reindeer, couple of shepherds, big boxes wrapped in colored foil to look like presents, great big ol' star on top of his house---you know. It's all lit up at night---real stunning. People drive by every night this time of year to see it. Well, he's got this seven foot lighted snowman that plays Christmas songs on it real loud. So there's this shoot out going on and all the time I hear Berl Ives singing Silver and Gold. If you ask me, them policemen need target practice. Looked like they were more interested in shooting the snowman than Derrick."

     At 10 PM that night, after authorities had surrounded the house for fourteen hours, a white van with a large swan head on its hood broke through the police cordon and drove onto the front lawn of the house, crushing a pair of lighted plastic elves. With military precision, say witnesses, five white spandex clad dancers ran from the van onto the front porch of the house and were brilliantly spot-lit by lights shining from the roof of the van. At once, polka music blared out from the vehicle and the five spot-lit people on the porch began an animated dance routine that even the hard bitten Lt. Hodges called "enchanting and magical". At several moments in the spectacular performance that included daring leaps over lighted plastic penguins and a dangerously antlered reindeer, there were peals of applause from the law enforcement audience surrounding the house. Within several minutes, Meirhoffer, unable to contain his curiosity about what was happening on his porch, ventured out and shortly found himself gaily dancing with one of the sprightly sequined female dancers. After some three minutes of this exercise, he collapsed onto his porch weak and out of breath.

     Alert police swiftly converged on Meirhoffer and arrested him. Emergency personnel on hand whisked Meirhoffer away to Podebrad Medical Center where he was listed in fair condition.

     As Meirhoffer was loaded into the ambulance, the Swan Lake Avengers exited the scene to the cheers and applause of Zoar's police. But Chief of Police Jim Branson expressed outrage at hearing of the Swan Lake Avenger's actions, saying, "They interfered with official acts, they placed themselves in danger as well as several police officers, and they failed to purchase any tickets to the annual Zoar Policemen's Ball. If you ask me, these people have a lot of contempt for law enforcement."

     Lt. Hodges is more forgiving, "I'm grateful for their help. My men said that none of them could get within fifty yards of the house without getting shot at by this old man. He knew his tactical situation instinctively and knew how to use it. Now I know why he got the Silver Star at Guadalcanal."